Greedy Member of the House of Representatives?

By Mortz C. Ortigoza

Based on the latest May 1, 2020 Census of Pangasinan done by the Philippines Statistics Authority (PSA), the massive province has 3,163, 190 population.

In year 2015 her demography was 2,956,726.

In that 2020 survey, PSA computed the population of the forty four towns and four cities’ province.

Pangasinan or Tawalisi, the once fortress of the Warrior Princess Urduja according to U.S Historian Austin Craig, is presently the No.3 most populated among the 81 provinces in the Philippine where Cebu and Cavite are Nos.1 and 2 and Laguna, Negros Occidental, Bulacan settled for Nos. 4,5,6, respectively.

With more than 3 milion people living in Pangasinan, it can have 12 congressional districts. It means additional six from the present six districts.

Section 5 (3) Article VI of the 1987 Constitution provides that “

Photo credit: quotesgram.com

Each city… or each province” with a population of at least 250,000 shall have at least one representative. (4) Within three years following the return of every census, the Congress shall make a reapportionment of legislative districts based on the standards provided in this section”.

New congressional district means specific allocation of a yearly budget for government infrastructures or hard projects like highways, roads, buildings, bridges, dams, and whatchamacallit and “soft projects” like scholarships and other social service to the solon’s constituents in the area.

With a billion pesos appropriation to every district given by the Imperial Manila based government – that collected the funds from our people’s taxes – there will be P12 billion annually that enter our province compared to the P6 billion to the six districts.

P12 billion is a huge amount yearly that could be a multi-pier effects for creation of jobs for those workers doing those infras and the new businesses like sari-sari stores and karinderya (that serve those workers) that sprouted could hire more employees to cater to the volume of customers. And we are not yet talking here about the spike of demands on the goodies sold by malls, beer and cigarette production by those factories, the balot, chicharon, and peanut vend by hawkers, and the joy and the prurience given by the ladies to their male clients at the karaoke bars where these women send those income and tips for their services to help their kin in those poor provinces in the Southern Islands like Samar, Leyte, Cebu and Mindanao.

Despite the 3,163, 190 new population we have from the 2,956,726 in the 2015 Census (where contiguous, compact and adjacent territory of at least two hundred fifty thousand inhabitants could be represented in Congress), intelligent reader like you could just cry your heart's out because these multi-pier effects' dream that I mentioned above will not happen as long as we have greedy Pangasinan solons who will not allow their district to be mangled for the creation of another two, four, or six congressional districts.

A Congressman told me that there are several members of the House of Thieves, ugh, Representatives that will not sign for the sponsorship bill on the creation of more districts in the province after President Rodrigo Duterte ascended to power in June 2016.

Their recalcitrance, I surmised, was about their avarice to see that their billion pesos allocation yearly could be reduced too as their turf are disfigured – for the general welfare - by the constitutional edict.

A reduced pork barrel means a slash on their S.O.P or a cut of ten to twenty percent of the government project from a contractor.

A one billion pesos budget means a Congressman and his family can pocket P200 to P100 million a year or P600 to P300 million in his or her three years term in office.

These wherewithal are used by the solon for reelection purposes through vote buying, patronage to his or her leaders, vehicles and houses for the family, children, paramours, and mistresses, and monthly payroll to the media men and trolls that defend the solon and attack his or her enemies.

With the patent greed of our lawmakers, this province continues to be a basket case while those new districts in Bataan, Isabela, and others could see the economic growth of their areas through creation of jobs and new infrastructures that could draw more businessmen and tourists.

As what this blog's Follower the perceptive James Rey Tombaga Carolino deplored to me:

“Look at Bataan Sir with 700,000 population kakapirma lang ng creation ng 3rd District nila short iyong ibang District to meet the 250,000 population. Iyong Isabela from four naging six na noong 2019 may isang District sila na hindi pa abot 200,000 tapos iyong iba halos sakto lang sa 250,000”.

Tombaga gave me too his proposed districts (for space constraint your poor Writer could no longer publish here) for Pangasinan and the towns and cities that would be carved from the six original districts.

The other new districts, as a result of my sleuthing, er, researching created under President Duterte’s administration:

A) Caloocan City: One District; B) Rizal Province: Two Districts; C) Santa Rosa City, Laguna: One District; D) Mandaue City, Cebu: One District; E) General Santos City, South Cotabato: One District; F) Southern Leyte: One District.

These nine new seats in the House of Representatives turned to 252 the total number of district represented there.

Are Pangasinan Congressmen that selfish that we are deprived since time immemorial of more congressional reapportionment?

***

When the Americans in their colonization of this country in the early 1900s created the Philippine Assembly (1907 to 1916’s Lower House) and the House of Representatives in 1916 to 1935 -- the members there were called “Congressman”

Several Filipino members of the House of Thieves, not content with the title added an adjective to their name plate as seen on their table and complimentary close of their official communication: Honorable Congressman Manik Manaog.

Their American counterparts be it Senator or Representative used simple title seen on their desks during their hearing as: Mr. John Smith.

Flip lawmakers have  delusion of greatness.

During the American Era Spanish speaking Filipino solons called each other too as Deputados.

For me these corrupt greedy Congressmen of the present time should be aptly called HIJO AND HIJA DEPUTAS (Son and daughter of bitches).

As what U.S President Delano Franklin Roosevelt said about a corrupt Nicaraquan anti -communist Dictator Anastacio “Tacho" Somoza García - who was a West Pointer - as quoted by Spanish newspapers: “Sí, es un hijo de puta, pero es nuestro hijo de puta (Yes, Somoza may be a son of a bitch, but he's our son of a bitch)”.

These greedy Filipino Congressmen of the 18^th Congress are sons of bitches but they are our sons of bitches because we Bobotantes succumbed to their dough that runs to P300, P500, or P1000 per voter’s buy every election.

Thomas Jefferson's adage could be a comeuppance to Filipino Bobotantes: The government you elect is the government you deserve.

READ MY OTHER BLOG/COLUMN:

Bad, Good News sa Ekonomiya ng Pinas

Follow me on Twitter Send me a secure tip.

MORTZ C. ORTIGOZA

Follow

I am a twenty years seasoned Op-Ed Political Writer in various newspapers and Blogger exposing government corruptions, public officials's idiocy and hypocrisies, and analyzing local and international issues. I have a master’s degree in Public Administration and professional government eligibility. I taught for a decade Political Science and Economics in universities in Metro Manila and cities of Urdaneta, Pangasinan and Dagupan. Follow me on Twitter @totoMortz or email me at totomortz@yahoo.com.